ディズニープリンセス

ディズニープリンセス Opinion Article

Does a Princess Have to Be Perfect?

So this is another 記事 I'm 書く based on a アンケート I recently done. This time the 質問 was "Do あなた think a princess has to be perfect?" At the time I'm 書く this, 28 people 投票 61% no, 39% yes.

People are allowed to have their own opinions and thoughts, that's something I will always respect. But when the topic of perfection is up for debate, it makes me wonder if people really have any idea of how harmful being "perfect" can be.

So some of あなた might ask me, what's wrong with perfection? In what way can it possibly be harmful? Well, have a seat, make yourself comfortable, maybe get yourself some refreshments, because I'll be もっと見る than happy to explain.

Let me explain now why the idea of perfection is harmful.

Rose from タイタニック

So for centuries women have been taught to be polite, soft spoken, to be seen and not heard, to look as beautiful as possible, to be a 磁器 doll. We're told if we act a certain way that's not the "right" way we won't find husbands または we'll be made fun of for being "different". Even girls today are taught this.

Why is this a bad thing? It's because if girls grow up thinking they're not perfect enough in anyone's eyes they start to hate themselves. And there's times where the stress can be so bad that they end up going down a dark road.

Now I 愛 Disney, the movies, the tv shows, the actors they've had over the years, but the company itself isn't as nice as it appears to be. The company will threaten to 火災, 火 their child actors if they don't act the way ディズニー wants them to act. If あなた wear a bikini that's not "family friendly"? あなた better hope あなた have a huge fanbase または you'd be getting fired on the spot. It doesn't matter how old あなた are, あなた have to look a certain way and act a certain way. Even if you're not on tv, あなた know how bad that kind of pressure is? It's not pleasant at all. And as mentioned before it can be so bad that you'll want to walk a dark path, like alcoholism, drugs, または self harm.

Esmeralda, I feel, is the best woman to use an example for this kind of topic. She's a character who has been talked about a lot recently and the way people here were saying reminded me of this bit of interesting trivia I read in the インターネット・ムービー・データベース（IMDb） page of her movie.

"Esmeralda's decision to marry Phoebus at the end of her film was likely the result of the way both Quasimodo and Frollo treated her throughout the movie, according to the Madonna-Whore complex: Frollo constantly viewed Esmeralda as an evil seductress, causing him to want her as his own and threatens to kill her if she refuses, while Quasimodo instead 閲覧数 her as a pure, angelic being, seeing her as being only kind and caring. However, both portrayals are considered insulting to women, and Phoebus, seeing her as being feisty but good-natured, was the only male character that saw Esmeralda like a normal woman, therefore becoming her husband"

The way a lot of people talked about her was pretty much the same way Frollo would think; they focused mostly on how "inappropriate" she is, literally nothing else. There is so much もっと見る to her character than what she wears または what she did in one scene. She's also very caring and wants to protect her people.

ジャスミン is another example, I've seen some negative コメント toward her about how "hard she is on others" when most of the time she's in the movie is spent with her standing up for herself. She obviously doesn't want to be forced into marriage, she obviously wants もっと見る than just being trapped in the palace her whole life, and she obviously doesn't like that people are, as she 発言しました "Standing around deciding my future"

Meanwhile the men are 与えられた different treatment. Oh あなた don't like Esmeralda because she wears that one dress? (that was somehow too inappropriate?) Well better not watch アラジン because he doesn't wear a シャツ for half of the movie! Oh and I'd avoid ムーラン too because Shang's shirtless for an entire song and there's one scene where the characters bathe which means they get naked

Oh and how could I forget the other princesses/heroines! I mean Ariel only wears a アサリ, クラム, ハマグリ bra for half of her movie! And Jasmine's outfit shows her stomach! And Elsa's blue dress is so tightfitting and has that slit on her leg! so inappropriate!

We are in 2018, can we please stop judging a woman's character によって what she wears? If a woman likes to wear a certain outfit then let her!

The princesses and heroines, though not real, are human beings. Human beings are not perfect. Can あなた think of someone in real life (and I mean real life, as in anybody あなた actually know, not an actor あなた love) who is "perfect"? Who is well-mannered and even-tempered?

In fact, the princesses themselves 発言しました they're not perfect in the upcoming Wreck it Ralph 2 movie, And instead of just picturing your お気に入り princesses as 天使 who could do no wrong, あなた might notice that some of them are naive, don't think things through, act like brats, aren't graceful, または aren't, as some of あなた would say well mannered. I mean I 愛 Mulan, she's my number one お気に入り princesses but I'm still aware of her flaws. She's not graceful all the time and while she does have some good plans they don't always end perfectly (avalanche and blowing up the palace)

Also these princesses are all teenagers and people feel the need to judge them によって how perfect または imperfect they are. Would あなた do that to a teenager in real life? As long as the teenager isn't hurting anybody または saying hurtful stuff why would it matter if they act または dress a certain way?

Let teenagers be teenagers and let women do what they want that doesn't just involve them being the 磁器 ドール society wants them to be

9 comments

The fact that I don't like Esmeralda as much as I like Rapunzel or Pocahontas doesn't mean I don't her admit good traits(Frollo didn't admit them, it's important difference). I dislike and even hate many non-evil Disney characters but it doesn't mean that they I also admit that Shang is brave in battle and very patriotic, the Emperor is endurant, stoic and elegant, Yao is loyal in friendship and Ling is able to admit his mistakes and loyal in friendship too but I still hate them all.
I mean I wouldn't want to hear that Esmeralda is a Disney femal lead I resemble the most. "YOu have some traits in common with Esmeralda" wouldn't be unpleasant to me but "You are more similiar to Esmeralda than you are to Rapunzel/Pocahontas/Belle" would. I think the difference is pretty obvious.
And, yes, I am not ashamed of being self-dissatisfied and perfectionistic, I want to improve myself and I will become more self-satisfied only after I will improve my abilities and skills.
Also my absolute the saddest moment in Disney history, the only moment when I nearly cried( despite being 19 while watching it and never being particularly compassionate person), is when Mulan's gender was revealed and she was about to be executed. I refuse to re-watch this moment even now because it's too sad to me. I also hate Shang for not trusting Mulan and beind rude to her during the parade, this moment, I consider him unworthy of Mulan's love because of that moment. I was really frustrated by the moment when Mulan hugged the Emperor because I consider him responsible for her troubles and he never admitted that he was injust ruler by having such laws and never asked Mulan for apology for nearly destroying her and her family's life with his terrible laws. I don't know too many people who reacted similarly at these moments. How "mysogynist" and "traditionalistic" I am!

Honestly, a lot of strawmen arguments there. I mean, I get what you are going for, but, well, I don't think that anyone here really expects the princesses to be perfect. Nor do I think that the princes get a different treatment. We discuss them less than the princesses, but when we do we are just as hard on them.

I don't see any strawman arguments, here. We are harder on the princesses in this club than we are on the princes. That's a fact.

And as for hating female characters and any other characters whom you dislike, to each his/her own. Just don't expect me to endorse your viewpoint. You will just learn to live with those who don't like your views.

Most of the negative recent talk about Esmeralda has been limited to **coughcough**youknowwho**coughcough**. I actually consider Esmeralda to be one of the most perfect Disney heroines. She's strong, virtuous, heroic, stands up for justice, selfless, righteous, outspoken, etc. This is why, although I find her admittedly admirable, I prefer more flawed characters like Megara and Elsa. I think most people are not necessarily referring to Esme's clothes, but her flirty personality, when criticizing her. I don't consider flirty to be a flaw. If anything, in real life, I've been told that I'm too much of a prude and not flirty enough, whatever that means. But people do pick on the other princesses' clothes. There are parents who complain about Elsa's sexy slit (which as a Frozen fan, makes me roll my eyes to the back of my head) and there's a reason Jasmine's costume changed at the Parks. Whenever I watch youtube videos of Ariel's human transformation, there are comments from adolescent boys about masturbating to her (gross).

I agree that the DPs are just teenagers and people are too harsh on them. I don’t like all this talk about how the princesses aren’t perfect enough. I think this comes from people being too preoccupied with whether or not the DPs are good enough role models (the DPs are targets for getting picked on alll the time), when in fact, the DPs are perfectly fine role models as they are. The classics get criticized for being too weak and damsels, Ariel is considered too selfish, Belle too Stockholm Syndrome, etc. These people think that the DPs should be perfect to fit their lofty standards, and it’s too much. Esmeralda, Mulan, Belle and Rapunzel are role-model worthy. But I don’t think that’s the first thing they should be because all this pre-occupation with role-model worthiness is too much and leads to perfectionism. I heard that Esme was actually more selfish and flawed in the original Victor Hugo novel.

I agree with you about Jasmine. That’s why I like her - because she stands up for herself. And all studios and entertainment pressure their actors. It’s not just Disney.

disnerdtobe I know Disney isn't the only company that pressures their actors it just felt easy to use that one as an example since this article is on a disney related spot :)

and Swanpride did you see the poll I put up before I did the article? Yes and No were almost neck and neck the whole time, so yes there are people on this spot who expect the princesses to be perfect and there's at least one or two who believe that a princess has to be perfect to be their personal favorite. And it's not just on this spot that I see people saying harsh stuff about princesses while practically worshipping the princes, I've seen it on other spots and on different websites like tumblr.

I saw the poll...I don't think thought that the question was particular precise. I mean, "perfect" in the sense of "they are never allowed to have any flaws" or "perfect" in the sense of "they should always strife towards doing the right thing" or "perfect" in the sense of "the main character shouldn't suck" (and with that I mean they shouldn't be badly written).